A blog on the current crises in the Middle East and news accounts unpublished by the US press. Daily timeline of events in Iraq as collected from stories and dispatches in the French and Italian media: Le Monde (Paris), Il Corriere della Sera (Milan), La Repubblica (Rome), L'Orient-Le Jour (Beirut) and occasionally from El Mundo (Madrid).

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Italy: April 9th is a fateful decision day

Umberto Eco has penned an editorial today for La Repubblica on the necessity of getting out the vote --of the disappointed and disallusioned Left-- in Italy's upcoming national legislative elections. Hopefully, a great tide will wash Berluconi and his clowns out to sea --and that this event will portend that the same awaits George and the Monkey Korps in November.

April 9: Appointment to save democracy

The obligation of the Libertà e Giustizia organization to convince the disillusioned on the Left.

We have come upon a decisive moment in history. From 2001 to today, Italy has been taking a terrible fall in terms of its laws, the Constitution, its economic situation and its international prestige. Should we have five more years of Polo [Berlusconi’s alliance] government, represented to the world by people like Calderoli and the new mass of recruits (just registered with Forza Italia) from among the least repentant survivors of Salò, the decline of our country will be unstoppable and perhaps we will be able to undo the damage.

The appointment at the polls on April 9th is different from all other election appointments of the past. Those occasions were attempts to decide who would govern, without the suspicion that a change in government would threaten our democratic institutions. Today, however, the survival of these institutions is at stake.

In this difficult situation, the opposition parties are obviously trying to capture the votes of the undecided, who in prior elections voted Polo and who now feel betrayed. The opposition is doing its duty but I believe that it is necessary to call upon our friends and supporters at Libertà e Giustizia, to take a different approach.

The biggest unknown in the upcoming elections is not represented by those who voted Right the last time (they are motivated by dynamics that are difficult to assess and whether out of conviction or laziness, they will continue to vote as they did before or will not vote at all). Moreover, their numbers, as opinion surveys have shown, change. I believe that the people at Libertà e Giustizia must engage themselves to convince the disillusioned Left –and not the undecided.

We know who they are. They are many but this is not the place to discuss the reasons for their disaffectedness. But they are the people whom we should remind that, if they give in to their discontent, will have collaborated in putting Italy into the hands of those who would lead her to her ruin. There is no justifiable discontent for allowing the fatal regression of our democracy, with all the indignation that it inspires in every sincere democrat, and the mockery made of our laws, separation of powers and our government. This is what each of us must repeat to our uncertain and disillusioned friends. It is on them and their commitment to turn out at the polls on which will depend whether Italy avoids five more years of pillaging by the defenders of special interests.

If our friends wish to give substance to their sense of criticism and of fairness (because knowing how to critique one’s own party is the purpose of a sense of criticism and fairness --I would even say intellectual honesty--), this time they must sacrifice their emotions and join us in this common undertaking.

It is the duty and obligation of those who have participated over the years in discussions at Libertà e Giustizia to carry out this mission of persuasion. The ship could go down. All hands on deck and at their stations.